Day 162-on to Belgium

   June 14-We packed up and said goodbye to the life of royalty when we headed out of the hostel this morning.  We drove out to the seashore briefly and then went to the Schipol airport northeast of Amsterdam.  We turned in the second rental car and my folks got on the IcelandAir flight to Reykjavík, where they would transfer to the direct flight to Denver. 

Our bedroom in the tower.

Breakfast in the castle.

The garden across the moat behind the castle.

  

These windmills are on the horizon, far out at sea.

The kids bid Grandpa and Grammy good-bye.

   While we were saying our goodbyes, I got a call from Elisabeth.  When we had left two days ago, we had asked her to mail the package with Sally’s camera bag on to England, so we could get it there, but she had offered to drive it halfway to Amsterdam to meet us.  We took her up on her offer, but we got our wires crossed, because she was calling to let us know that she was already at the roadside rest area on the Holland-German border!  Since it was a two hour drive to the border from Amsterdam, I felt very bad.  We headed straight there and met her and got the bag.  She did not seem unhappy at all, but we still felt very bad about the situation.  We said our goodbyes again and she and a friend who had come with her headed back home and we drove off towards Brussels.

   Sally noticed that her speed was slightly above the posted limit when she saw a phalanx of police motorcycles as we crossed the border back into Holland.  So, it was a bit of a surprise when one of them pulled alongside us, pointed at us, and then pulled in front of us.  An LED readout on the back of the bike read “Volgen” which was similar enough to the German “folgen” for me to know that we were supposed to follow him.  We drove a short distance and then pulled into another rest area where a large number of police were congregated around a handful of cars.  We were completely perplexed at this point, but it turned out to be passport control.  Since they did not even check our passports when we flew into Germany from Iceland, we were a little surprised to get checked while driving between two countries within the EU!  Sally went around back to get the passports and the policeman checked them, took them to a little hut to do something with them, and then returned.  He asked how long we would be in Europe and Sally briefly explained our situation in Iceland.  He said thanks and noted that another individual was going to talk to us.  However, that other person apparently indicated that it was not necessary, because a moment later he said that we could drive on.  Since we had seen one car with all of the passengers sitting on the ground next to it and with all of the luggage being pulled out and examined, we were happy that we were waved on through so easily!

   We managed to mostly avoid traffic jams and made good time the rest of the trip to Brussels.  The apartment we rented turned out to be right next to the Grand Place, which is a large pedestrian zone, so we had a bear of at time figuring out how to get there with the car.  We finally parked illegally and went to meet the apartment owners to pay for the room and get the keys.  Thankfully, the police were otherwise engaged, so we didn't get a ticket, before I moved the car to a parking garage.  Our parking woes were quickly forgotten as the advantage of our location became apparent.  On the street below our apartment were a chocolatier, a “250 Belgian beers” store, a waffle shop, and a number of restaurants and tourist shops.  We moved into the apartment, which was on the top floor of a building that was probably built around 1700, when most of the buildings in the Grand Place were built.  It certainly had the look and feel of being of that age!

   Once we were settled in, we went out to grab a bite to eat and to start drinking those amazing Belgian beers, which are the reason that we are making this stop in Belgium.  While Sally put the kids to bed, I went down to the “250 Belgian beers” store below us and grabbed a couple for us to enjoy before we hit the sack as well.  I grabbed a Tripel Karmeliet from Bosteels and a Oerbier from de Dolle Brouwers.  They were mighty tasty.

The kids get some beauty rest in our attic-level efficiency apartment.